Thief jailed for 18 months after ramming BMW to steal £7,000 caravan in Masham

Aaron Drummond, 23, was in a Toyota bearing false plates which was smashed into the BMW to shunt it out of the way of the caravan parked in a yard on Leyburn Road, Masham.

Drummond and another man got out of the Toyota and smashed the front windscreen to get to the handbrake which they released, prosecutor Brooke Morrison told York Crown Court.

The thieves tried to push the BMW away from the Sterling Cullen Europa caravan and when this didn’t work, they got back inside the Toyota and rammed the car out of the way.

Ms Morrison said: “They then hitched the caravan to their own vehicle and drove from the scene."

The owner, who was named in court, was driving past his property at about 9.15pm on September 19, 2020, when he saw his BMW parked at a “strange angle” in the yard.

Upon closer inspection, he noticed the front window had been smashed and a dent to the vehicle. The caravan had disappeared.

The theft was captured on CCTV and the Toyota and caravan were later spotted on Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras.

Police identified Drummond from the footage and he was subsequently arrested.

Drummond - whose last known address was Sadberge Road, Stockton-on-Tees - refused to answer police questions but ultimately admitted stealing the caravan and damaging the BMW.

He appeared for sentence via video link on Monday after being recalled to prison.

Ms Morrison said the offences put Drummond in breach of two suspended prison sentences - one imposed in April 2020 for making off without payment and driving while disqualified, and another in May of that year for aggravated vehicle-taking and driving while disqualified again.

In November 2020, he was jailed for over two years at Teesside Crown Court for a plethora of offences including six burglaries, going equipped, dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle-taking, criminal damage and driving while disqualified.

Drummond’s long criminal history included 18 previous convictions for 69 offences – 20 of them for theft and kindred.

Kelleigh Lodge, for Drummond, said the father-of-one had mental-health problems at the time of his crime spree and was taking unprescribed tablets.

Judge Deborah Sherwin said it was obvious there had been a “fair degree of planning” to the caravan raid and that Drummond and his cohort had driven from their home area to Masham on false plates.

Jailing Drummond for 18 months, she told him: “You have offended over many years.”

Drummond will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.